A hurricane-like storm, two-thirds the diameter of Earth, is raging at Saturn's south pole, new images from Nasa's Cassini space probe reveal. Measuring 5,000 miles (8,000km) across, the storm is the first hurricane ever detected on a planet other than Earth. Scientists say the storm has the eye and eye-wall clouds characteristic of a hurricane and its winds are swirling clockwise at 350mph (550km/h). However, unlike Earth hurricanes it seems stuck at the pole, not drifting. "It looks like a hurricane, but it doesn't behave like a hurricane," Dr Andrew Ingersoll, a member of Cassini's imaging team at the California Institute of Technology said. "Whatever it is, we're going to focus on the eye of this storm and find out why it's there." Though Jupiter's Great Red Spot storm moves counter-clockwise, and is far bigger than the storm on Saturn, it does not have the eye and eye-wall that mark out a hurricane. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Friday he would step down as Palestinian prime minister if that would persuade the West to lift debilitating economic sanctions."When the issue of the siege is on one side, and my being prime minister is on the other, let the siege be lifted to end the suffering of the Palestinian people," he said, referring to the international aid boycott that has devastated the Palestinian economy.His offer appeared to be another indication that the Islamic militant group and the rival Fatah Party of President Mahmoud Abbas were inching closer to a national unity government made up of independent experts _ a coalition that presumably would present a more moderate face to the world.Haniyeh, a longtime Hamas leader, told worshippers at a Gaza mosque that Western countries wanted him out of government....http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/10/ap/world/mainD8LA8IS00.shtml

President Vladimir Putin will host an airport meeting with Bush when Air Force One makes a refueling stop in Moscow next week, a chance for the two leaders to patch up frayed relations. A Kremlin spokesman said on Friday Putin would go out to the airport to meet Bush as a gesture of hospitality. The Interfax news agency said the meeting would take place on November 15 as Bush heads east for an Asian economic summit."The ... refueling of the U.S. presidential aircraft had been envisaged as a purely protocol event. However when Putin learned about the fact, he invited the Bush couple to stay in Moscow a bit longer," Interfax said, quoting a Kremlin source.No further details were available but Washington's drive to impose sanctions on Iran and Moscow's desire for an agreement to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) are likely to top the agenda....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061110/pl_nm/russia_usa_dc

Richard Armitage Colin Powell's number two quit at the same time as his boss after the 2004 election. Jose Maria Aznar Spanish PM. Victim of Islamic extremism caused by war. Ousted after Madrid bombs. George Bush Iraq buck stops here. Has two years left in office with hostile Congress. Lame duck. Alastair Campbell Brilliant PR reputation lost in row over 'sexing up' dossier on case for war. Later quit. Ahmed Chalabi CIA adviser behind 'evidence' of weapons of mass destruction. Failed to win Iraq seat. DICK CHENEY Arch neocon, and key foreign policy voice. Despite war fiasco, will remain Vice-President. Iain Duncan Smith Backing for war crucial. Limits Tories' scope to criticise now. Dumped as leader in 2004 Silvio Berlusconi Big backer of the war, sending 2,000 Italian troops. Cost him his job as PM this April. Tony Blair In last year of premiership. Still insists war was right, but it will be his unwanted legacy. ...http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1963020.ece

In an account smuggled out of prison, a radical Muslim cleric has detailed how he was kidnapped by the CIA from this northern Italian city and flown to Cairo, where he was tortured for months with electric shocks and shackled to an iron rack known as "the Bride." Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, wrote an 11-page letter describing his 2003 abduction at the hands of the CIA and Italian secret service agents. He somehow transferred the document out of Egypt -- where he remains in custody -- and into the hands of Italian prosecutors who are investigating his disappearance. The Milan public prosecutor's office on Thursday confirmed the authenticity of the letter, the existence of which was first reported by the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. The document has been submitted as evidence to defense attorneys representing 25 CIA officers, a U.S. Air Force officer and nine Italian agents who have been charged with organizing the kidnapping of ...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/09/AR2006110901686.html

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the Democratic wave that won the party control of Congress did nothing to deter the Bush administration from continuing its Iraq mission until "the goal that took us to Iraq" is reached. "It's too important to our own security," Rice said in a newspaper interview distributed Thursday by the State Department. "Iraq has to be successful for America to be secure." Rice said President Bush has promised "that we will certainly make adjustments to our policy" in Iraq. "We will certainly look to new ideas." But while "the American people clearly were voting for change, as the president said," they "were not voting for anything less than a success in Iraq." The idiot thinks voters voted for Success in Iraq? What are they smoking? Who does it serve for the dieing and killing to continue, and who gains? Why must more die for their lies? What was there ever to gain? When are we going to arrest and charge everyone responsible for this? ...http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/2006/11/09/ap3161857.html